While most of us dream of returning to our warm beds after a day of classes, a group of students are choosing to stay out in the wind and rain. Six commerce students from Dalhousie University have been participating in the campaign, Five Days for the Homeless, since Mar. 12.
The campaign has groups raise funds for a charity of their choice and create awareness of youth homelessness in their area. The Dalhousie group has chosen Phoenix Youth as the community organization to support.
The campaign first started 11 years ago at the University of Alberta, and made it’s way to Dalhousie three years ago. Katie Flanagan has participated every year that the event has been here on campus.
“This is my third year participating in the campaign, so nearing my 15th day over the past three years of participating; it’s definitely very eye opening,” said Flanagan.
Flanagan believes that it is not only important to raise money for charity, but to also make others more aware of the issue of youth homelessness.
“It’s really important that people realize that youth homelessness is very prevalent in our community, and it’s important that we can help to support them,” she said.
In raising awareness for youth homelessness, the group chose to support Phoenix Youth programs.
“Not only do they (Phoenix Youth) help youth who are experiencing homelessness, but also youth who are at risk. They work with people aged 11-24, who some of them are our peers. Youth who have experienced homelessness in the past, who are at risk of homelessness now, are students here at Dalhousie,” said Flanagan.
The campaign involves more than just sleeping outdoors, as the group of students also did educational research before the project.
“We’ve done a lot of educating ourselves before we started participating in the campaign. We were able to go to different Phoenix facilities and tour around, speak with employers, and those who work with Phoenix, in order to gain a better knowledge of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and why it’s so important,” said Flanagan.
The campaign also restricts the diet of the group, making it so participants can only eat and drink what has been donated to them. This is a taste of what homeless teens experience everyday, but Flanagan said that she knows it’s not exactly the real thing.
“It’s very interesting to participate in, it’s a very unique campaign, but of course it’s not nearly the same as what youth actually have to go through. We understand that, we understand that this is nothing compared to that, but it’s still important to raise the awareness and raise the funds.”
While other group members are brand new to the project, Flanagan brings a different perspective to the project having been involved for many campaigns previous.
“It’s been very interesting and very humbling to know the community is so supportive. We’ve had so many people from the Halifax and Dalhousie community drop by.”
As of Mar. 16, the group had raised $8547.80 for Phoenix Youth to help fund their financial support, educational support and drop-centre services, as well as the food, clothing and shelter that Phoenix House provides to young people.
For Flanagan, one of the major highlights of the campaign has been to be so close to completing their fundraising goal of $10,000. Yet, she said that the amount of community support the group has received has been the greatest reward.
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